This invention relates to mailboxes and, in particular, to mailboxes on which designs of text or graphics are displayed on the exterior surface thereof.
By law, mailboxes must be marked in some manner with the name and street number of the owner. This is typically accomplished by the purchaser through the use of adhesive lettering, which is a tedious and error-prone task. Painted or stencilled lettering is also occasionally employed. In addition to such text, many mailboxes are provided with decorative graphic designs. Often designs are provided which appeal to a particular class of purchasers. For example, a boat owner may wish to have the design of a boat, a pilot may look for an airplane graphic, etc.
In the past, such graphic designs have typically been applied by the mailbox manufacturer by silk-screening the design onto the exterior surface of the mailbox or onto a sheet material which is wrapped over the exterior and permanently adhered to the mailbox. Adhesive label designs and painting have also been used.
Unfortunately, the application of the design at the manufacturing stage creates severe problems in storage and transportation, particularly where more than one style of mailbox, i.e., post-mount, wall-mount, etc., is to be kept in stock. For even a modest selection of designs, the number of mailboxes to be retained in inventory quickly becomes excessive. Each style must be stored with each different design imprinted thereon. A related problem is the difficulty of gauging purchaser demand for each design. The retailer is often left with too many of the unpopular designs and too few of the best sellers.
The present invention seeks to solve these problems by providing the graphic and/or text design on a separate insert which can be fitted into and retained by a matching recess on the visible exterior surface of the mailbox. Accordingly, a retailer need only stock a sufficient quantity of each basic mailbox style with the recess, and then can keep a much larger selection of low-cost graphic design inserts in a substantially reduced storage space.
A second advantage of this invention is that it permits the display insert to be changed by the mailbox owner when he becomes tired of the original design, when the ownership of the box changes hands, or at other times. For example, the inserts may be changed seasonally to provide holiday designs, birthday wishes, notices of new births, etc.
A third advantage of this interchangeable insert design is that inserts can be produced with the owner's name and street number in addition to or instead of the graphic design. Such inserts can be produced by the mailbox manufacturer or retailer for those customers who do not wish to apply the text themselves. Even where the purchaser applies the text, the job can be performed much more easily on the flat removeable insert than by working directly on the bulky mailbox. If, as is not uncommon, the purchaser makes a mistake during the application of the letters, a second insert can be used or the back of the first one.